Looking for 1st Home in Sydney

Hi, we are 1st home buyers and currently living in Sydney. Currently we are renting for 320/week.
We are looking for property in Sydney to buy & live-in. Both me and my wife work in City and want to stay close to Train station or Bus station but not able to pick the suburb; and also not able to decide weather to go for Unit or House

Can you please help us which suburb & Property type will have good capital growth in long term? Our joint income is around 130k, we have a deposit amount of around 80,000

Here are the stats
Married

135000 gross per annum
total expenses per month 1200
No dependents
Good credit history
Location Hornsby, Sydney

Wanted Answers:

What are the suburbs to consider?

Budget: 400,000

Property type: which one to select – Unit or House?

Property Preference is: at least 2 bedroom/2 bathroom

Deposit available: 80,000

I'd suggest a unit either in Northern Beaches - Manly/Fairlight/Harboard or a unit in Concord close to canada bay and as far away from strathfield as you can.
For $300k you can still buy a clad 3 bed room house in Merrylands. Even though the area is a not the best, it ticks a lot of boxs in terms of what/where to look.
You should be able to find a unit for $400k in the upper north shore area like Chatswood/Northbridge/Cammeray .
Look for all the normal things ,transport,cafe's bla bla bla.
I'd be inclined to look at the suburbs that haven't done so well in recent years as opposed to those that have shown 10% growth for the last few years running.

Study1, you may be looking long and hard to find a decent 2 bed unit sub $450k in those LNS areas nominated, possibly around that price in Lane Cove North but usually 2bed/1 bath.

Areas that you could consider for a house would be Toongabbie/Seven Hills/Blacktown all on a train line. Middle distance western suburbs which have taken a large hit with median prices dropping substantially over the past few years. Some good opportunities to add value/rebuild.

On the upper north shore, you may find a house in the low $500k around Thornleigh or possibly further north at berowra (just before the hawkesbury river)

Thanks a lot for your comments, I will investigate around Hornsby area...

A good start might be to go to a broker and see how much a bank will pre-approve you for a loan!

I can help you with a good broker if that's an issue for you.
I'm in Sydney myself. Ph: 02 9560 8136.

We have a broker we use for our investors that we do Joint Ventures with in our positive cashflow deals
so we can recommend him.

Cheers,
Tamar

Convener-Vendor Finance Association NSW

Joint Venture with Us For Passive Positive Cashflow.
http://innovativerealestateinvestments.com

Personally i would be looking on the inner west train line (heavy rail close to the city will be more and more sort after as the city grows and its harder to commute by car) becuase thats as close as you can get to the city an be close to transport on a budget and in an area that is going through a demographic shift which inturn is improving the lifestyle faclities (and property value). Of course it all depends on what type of area you choose to live and what your lifestyle priorities are. If you looking/considering the hornsby area (as suggested by someone) than you probably woudnt want to live in say Petersham in the Inner west anymore than someone in Mosman would choose Newtown. However as an investor i definitely wouldnt buy in hornsby, but I would invest in the inner west particularly on the train line, between 5 and 15minutes to central, too easy.

Anyhow you really need to decide on your budget and what you want out of it before you can get some sound advise from us in terms of property type.However if you went with a unit my advise woud be to go for scarcity value to max capital growth and to have a solid investment. Like an Art deco unit for example, make sure its a small block (no more than 12 apartments preffer 6 or 4 as ideal)) , these will always be sort after and in demand, character homes are always going to hold value better than poorly designed new apartment developments which are usually overpriced (and about to start depreciiating rapidly and supply is always fluctuating).. Buy an older style on the trainline do a minor reno and hold on and youll be in a good place in the future.

Why not consider a shared equity loan.

For the same monthly repayment amount you would be able to borrow 20% more and enjoy a better property with higher propspects of capital growth.

Cheers

Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor
Residential & Commercial Finance Broker.
Licensed Financial Planner. Ph: 07 3720 1888
www.tayloredfinancialsolutions.com.au
richard@tayloredfinancialsolutions.com.au.
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